scăpa

Forms

scăpa (third-person singular present scapă, past participle scăpat, third-person subjunctive scape) 1st conjugation^[1] Besides scap, the first person present is scăp in popular speech and regionally schep.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *excappō, a verb not recorded in Latin texts.^{[3][2][1][4][5]} It is formed on Late Latin cappa (“cloak”) with the prefix ex- (“out”);^[1][6] Graur explains it as “to slip out of one's cloak, leaving it in the hands of those holding one”.^[1][6]

The verb survives in Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian: Aromanian ascap (also scap) and Megleno-Romanian scap.^[3][7][8] Its Romance cognates include Italian scappare, French échapper, Occitan escapar, Catalan escapar, Spanish escapar and Portuguese escapar.^[3][5] Romanian lent Hungarian szkepál and a Ukrainian verb of the same form.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb appears in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, in Psalm 59:4.^[9] Tiktin's first record is the Psaltirea Scheiană (Psalm 105:11), and MDA2's the Codicele Voronețean (c. 1563–1583).^[10][2]

Semantic evolution

The oldest and central sense is “to get free, to escape from danger or a trap”, from which come “to get rid of someone or something” and, transitively, “to rescue”.^[11][2][1] Other senses are the transitive “to let fall, to drop” and “to let slip a word”;^[10][11] Tiktin records a scăpa trenul “to miss the train” and a scăpa ocazia “to miss the opportunity”.^[10][11]

Rarer senses are “to go down, to set”, said of the sun, and, reflexively and euphemistically, “to soil oneself”.^[11][3] Folk phrases compare a narrow escape to getting out of a bear's claws, a scăpa ca din gheara ursului.^[2] The noun scăpare “escape, rescue” was formed in Romanian.^[3]

Timeline

• early 16th century – scăpa in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[9]
• c. 1563–1583 – in the Codicele Voronețean, MDA2's first record.^[2]
• c. 1573–1578 – in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To escape, get free or get away from a trap, a grip or a danger; to come through a difficulty unharmed.^[11][2][1]
2. To get rid of someone or something unpleasant; transitively, to rescue someone from something.^[11][1]
3. To let something fall from one's hand by accident, to drop; to lose control of someone or something.^[11][10][1]
4. (rare) Of the sun, to go down, to set.^[11]
5. (reflexive) To say or do something unintentionally, to let slip a word.^[11][3][1]
6. To miss an opportunity, a train; to fail to notice.^[10][1]

Word family

• scăpare
• scăpat

Related words

• capă
• eșapament
• Aromanian ascap

Usage notes

A scăpa din mână means both “to lose control of” and “to miss a good chance”.^[11] In informal speech a scăpa also means to get off work or school.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 794
3. ^ a b c d e f g Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. scăpa
4. ^ Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. scăpa
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2952
6. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 28
7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 926
8. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 259
9. ^ a b Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 59:4
10. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. scăpa
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 986